Tesla's big party trick when it re-revealed the Roadster last week was the cold thrusters that not only generate downforce but also purportedly let it "fly." We'll let you determine for yourself how viable that last feature actually is when or if the car arrives in a real Tesla showroom, but cold thrusters that supply downforce aren't actually a new idea, nor are they exclusive to Tesla. The McMurtry Spéirling famously has a "Downforce on Demand" fan system that lets it drive upside down, and it's now come to light that Bugatti Rimac boss Mate Rimac considered something similar for the Nevera hypercar 7 years ago.
In a social media video talking about the Tesla Roadster's thruster abilities, Rimac said, "Lots of people asked us if we ever considered something like that, and you would be surprised. The answer is actually yes." He then goes on to show an email he apparently sent seven years ago detailing something he called "static downforce" inspired by Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B Formula 1 fan car from 1978.
He did a naturally aspirated V16 instead
Rimac then shows a chat log documenting what he called "a whole project in 2020 to add the cold thrusters to the Nevera. The idea was to have all this in the Nevera's successor to go less than one second 0-60 and do the flying, and all of that."
Then, in 2021, Rimac took over Bugatti, and work on the gloriously old-school Tourbillon started, which took precedence. "But then we started working on the [Bugatti] Tourbillon V16 naturally aspirated, and we can't do so many things in parallel, so we had to prioritize, and we prioritized that," said Rimac.
It doesn't sound like Rimac is salty about the whole thing or pointing all this out as a gotcha. "I'm happy that Elon did it, that Tesla did it, that McMurtry did it. It's more exciting, more fun, makes the future even more exciting. We are doing V16s, they do these things, so it's all fun, and I love it. Can't wait to see it on the road." I'll be the first to eat crow if the flying Tesla Roadster ever actually becomes a production reality, but based on Tesla's track record, I have a feeling Mate will be waiting a while.